Wednesday, February 27, 2013

All in the Detail: Jeronimo Street Art in Dakar

Heya! I'm still kicking it in Douala, Cameroon. Just finished my room service and I am almost as enamored with the service as I was last night. Facilité, facilité, facilité....

One thing I will say—as much as I've been bad mouthing traveling lately, I am indisputably more inspired by my surroundings when on these business trips than nestled in my Dakarois cocoon. I swear, I've thought of twenty new blog posts in the past day. I know it is partially because I am alone with my thoughts for much of my time, but there is also something about taking in and confronting these less familiar surroundings that gets my wheels spinning, even if I'm here for work. Taxi rides observing the city offer a welcome respite from some of the stress I feel during the day.

Douala street scenes from the comfort of my taxi. Love how the pipes are displayed. All in the detail.

So I have a new idea for a series :) If you've ever seen pictures of African cities... they are not always the most picturesque. I happen to be a lover of urban landscape—gritty neighborhoods and unfinished construction included—but I will admit that the African cities I'm familiar with are not necessarily winning any urban beauty contests. But there is, of course, beauty to be found! And its subconsciously been one of my favorite past times over the years.

I am constantly noticing amazingly discrete, witty, thoughtful, intentional, beautiful, and interesting details throughout my travel in Africa. So with this new series, All in the Detail, I plan to showcase purposeful and often subtle aesthetic nuances that make me smile daily, without even thinking about it!

The inspiration for All in the Detail came from a door I noticed today—a door to a (shack) beauty salon painted purple with pink and green polka dots, smashed between two other decrepit shacks. Such a happy and colorful surprise, I wish I had taken a picture! Next time I'll think to ;)

I'll leave you with two images from Dakar that I immediately thought of to start off this series.

Now, this concept was executed by a foreigner (Belgian) and is obviously completely "intentional," but I absolutely love spotting Jeronimo's street art throughout Dakar and I have a feeling he was inspired by urban details as well. So I think its a good place to start :)

Check out this website for more about the artist and other photos of his street art in Dakar!